Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 7, between lines 3 and 4, to insert the following:

“Amendment of the Act of 2010
6. Section 40 of the Act of 2010 is amended by substituting for subsection (4) the following:
“(4)(a) Where a person of whom the production of a driving licence or learner permit is demanded under this section refuses or fails to produce the licence or permit there and then, a member of the Garda Síochána may require the person to produce within 48 hours after the date of the requirement the licence or permit in person to a member of the Garda Síochána at a Garda Síochána station to be named by the person at the time of the requirement. If the person refuses or fails so to produce the licence, he or she commits an offence.
(b) In any proceedings a certificate, purporting to be signed by the member in charge of the Garda Síochána station at which the defendant concerned was required, under paragraph (a), to produce the driving licence or learner permit, stating that the defendant did not, within 48 hours after the day on which the production was required, produce a driving licence or learner permit in accordance with paragraph (a) shall, without proof of the signature of the person purporting to sign the certificate or that he or she was the member in charge of the Garda Síochána station, be evidence, until the contrary is shown, of the facts stated in the certificate.
(c) Where any person is required to produce a driving licence or learner permit at a Garda Síochána station and the person produces the licence or permit within 48 hours after the day on which the production was required, the member in charge of the Garda Síochána station shall issue a certificate stating that the licence or permit was so produced and such certificate shall be evidence of the facts stated in the certificate.
(d) Where any person is required to produce a driving licence or learner permit at a Garda Síochána station and the person does not produce the licence or permit within 48 hours but before 10 days after the day on which the production was required would have committed an offence under subsection (1) and be subject to a summary penalty of 6 penalty points if the person has no existing penalty points and an additional 12 penalty points if the person has any existing penalty points.
(e) Where any person is required to produce a driving licence or learner permit at a Garda Síochána station and the person does not produce the licence or permit within 10 days after the day on which the production was required would have committed an offence under subsection (1) and be subject to their licence being immediately suspended and any vehicle they hold title to being impounded.”.”.

I welcome the Minister and I appreciate what he has just said to Senator Quinn. On the last occasion the Minister was here I believe he said he had accepted amendments in the Dáil on four occasions. We are all on the one side in this. I share the Minister's concern over the increase in road deaths from 163 to 190 after several years of very dramatic improvement in road safety statistics. That is the spirit in which the amendments are proposed and if they are useful to the Minister on Report Stage or in the next Bill, that is fine and will show that the House is working together. This is a problem we all wish to address.

I agree with the Minister on "N" drivers and testing later on. However, what about somebody who is not in the system and does not have a driving licence? The first relevant legislation I could find was the Road Traffic Act 1961, which states in the driving licence section that a person who contravenes the Act shall be guilty of an offence. Further down that page it refers to a fine not exceeding £100. It looks like the legislation was from the era when we lived in small towns and the gardaí knew that the driver would bring in his or her licence in the following week. While we have made great steps in training people and so on, allowing a driver simply to get back in a car and drive off seems to be something from 1961, which is why I have proposed stricter penalties for not having a licence. As we move closer to the credit card-sized licence, drivers should have it and not waste Garda time in establishing whether the person will turn up and at what station.

It should be a much more serious offence than a £100 fine in 1961 prices to drive without a licence. Once it is a small credit card-sized licence, all drivers should carry it with them so that Garda time is not wasted on these matters. When we raised the issue previously, the Minister asked what would happen to somebody was on holidays in Kerry and his driving licence is in Donegal, or he is in a rush to the airport and forgot it. We need to move to ensuring that unlicensed driving is penalised and if a driver does not turn up pretty quickly with a driving licence, that is also penalised and brought within the penalty points system. For those with an existing penalty and do not have a driving licence, I would put it up to 12. If it goes beyond ten days in producing it, the driver should be suspended and the vehicle impounded.

There are just thought that occur to me on this. I believe the Minister and I share the same goal. What he has done on vehicle testing and the stricter training of drivers has had dramatic results. How do we deal with people completely outside this system, going back to the very casual arrangements in the small villages of the Ireland of 1961? Driving is a serious activity. We are all trying to reduce the figure of 190 people who died on our roads last year. We should apply sterner penalties when people first get behind the wheel and ensure they are as prepared as the Minister and all Members of this House would wish.